


The Proposal

by Spazzo47



Category: The Newsroom (US TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-30
Updated: 2018-12-30
Packaged: 2019-09-30 07:27:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17219549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spazzo47/pseuds/Spazzo47
Summary: For Lilac Mermaid's December Fan Fiction Challenge -- Jewelry.Mac greatest dream comes true, but it does so at a cost.





	The Proposal

“I’m in love with you and I want you to marry me.”

Mac heard the words, but it was wrong somehow.  She knew what she wanted to say, but she couldn’t.  Will’s face, frame and voice came through perfectly clear, even though nothing else did.  Something felt wrong and she couldn’t figure it out. 

He took her hand and ran his thumb up and down her ring finger.  He waited for her to say something, but she couldn’t.  She physically could not get the words to come out of her mouth.  She couldn’t form words, any words, at all.  And for the first time she realized where she was.  She was in a hospital.  They had to transport her.  Somewhere.  She didn’t remember how she got here.  She barely remembered why.  She may have been covering a story, but probably not.  Scott Spellman, Army Major.  He wanted to show her something.  She asked if it was newsworthy and he just said, “come on”.  She didn’t question his motives in taking her somewhere secluded without the other guys or her team.  She teased him that if he didn’t at least try to take advantage of her, she’d be disappointed. 

She’d become close with many of her guys, but she had a different relationship with Scott.  Every once in a while, they’d have conversations that started, “If we weren’t in this God damned war…”.  And she knew it to be true.  He was different.  He was nothing like Will or Brian or any other man she had dated.  The other men in her life were ambitious, always willing to put their jobs ahead of the people they claimed to loved.  They were well read, college graduates and journalists, or journalists in training.  Scott was intelligent, but in a different way.  He taught her military strategy and how to hear the difference between gun calipers.  While Will or Brian frequented Broadway musicals and had expensive dinners at restaurants where they would get seen by the right people, Scott enjoyed beer and pizza while watching a game with the guys.  Any game.  Even ones he didn’t know anything about.  He was content to be content, whereas Will and Brian constantly looked for the next big career step.  And while she’s here, having him around to protect her made her time in this self-imposed purgatory tolerable. 

But none of that explained what happened.  Why she lay in a hospital bed.  She didn’t know why or how she knew, but she was sure she was in a hospital bed.  If something happened, Scott would make sure she got the medical attention she needed.  And if Will’s here, then she must have been here a long time.  Whatever happened must have knocked her unconscious.  And now she’s returning from her trip to Oz.  Or maybe she’s just getting there.

She felt him put the ring on her finger.  “I’m going to take it off until you actually say yes.  I can’t wait for you to say it.  I’ve waited a long time for this.”

Mac would recognize Will’s voice anywhere.  She wondered how close to death she must have come for him to make it all the way out here.  Scott brought a sat phone with him, just in case something happened, though he said he knew it wouldn’t.  So when… when… She was stabbed?  How the fuck did that happen?  She got separated from Scott.  They took one of the jeeps and went… she couldn’t remember, but he saw something and tried to turn around.  He told her to send out the emergency signal.  Before she knew it, they were surrounded.  They hadn’t gone far.  He wouldn’t have taken her off base.  Somehow she and Scott got separated and the others came.  That’s the last thing she… thinks… she remembers.  Someone must have called a medic who called her parents and her parents called Will.  What the fuck happened to Scott?  They wouldn’t have left without him. 

“Hey, calm down.  It’s okay.  We all got out of there.”

That’s Scott’s voice.  It should be strange to have both Will and Scott in this room.  Two men that she loves.  Imagining them side by side she realizes she loves them in different ways.  Scott is a born leader, the type of person that just attracts people to him.  Not because he’s rich or famous or at the top of his field.  He doesn’t deal with bullshit well.  He’s the blue-collar worker who will always have a good life because he chooses to see life and people as fundamentally good.  She admires and respects him for his optimism.  If they weren’t in this damn war, who knows.  He’s a breath of fresh air.  He is everything that Will could have been if he was brought up differently.  If he didn’t have to fight so hard for everything that he wanted.  If he could have grown up without the bullshit he had, he could resemble Scott.  But instead he’s Will.  And he’s perfect in other ways.  He can understand her in a way that Scott never could.  His pessimism makes him passionate about the things she is.  His perspective is different than hers, but somehow brings out the best in her.  He just fits better in her life.  She wishes she could be in love with Scott the way she always has been with Will.  But knowing they’re sitting here, side by side in her hospital room, she knows that she loves Scott, but is in love with Will.  Especially since he came all the way out here.  He found out she was in trouble and dropped everything to be with her. 

Besides, Scott wouldn’t be in love with her either.  They’ve messed around and had some serious conversations, but it’s never been serious.  Just friendship.  Maybe it’s not so strange having her best friend and her… fiancé?  She is going to say yes after all.  Once she wakes up, that’s the first thing she’s going to do.  She’s going to say yes and Will’s going to put that ring back on her finger.  And then she’s going to get out of the hospital and they’ll have their happily ever after. 

She just has to will herself to wake up. 

\--- --- --- ---

Makenzie felt her eyes open.  She wasn’t sure if she had fallen asleep again or if she willed herself awake.  Scott’s face came into view first.  He was smiling when he saw her eyes open.  When he turned to tell Will that she was awake, she saw a ring next to her bed. 

“Will?  Will?  Honey?  Yes!  Yes I’ll marry you!”

She looked over to where Scott stood.  Will wasn’t there, her mom was.  When Scott turned to look at her, she saw his heart break.  He walked out the door. 

Mac was released from the hospital and her parents took her home immediately. 

 


End file.
